“So Hot” may have gotten a general response of thumbs up, but translating that success to the on-stage kind is not necessarily so easy. Thus, the first live performance in this “new era” of the Wonder Girls was always going to be closely scrutinised.
First, the positives. The dancing is, as ever, sharp as hell. For a group that are as vocally strong as the Wonder Girls, dancing of that high a standard is unusual. I’m not saying they’re DBSK or anything, but it should make SNSD take a long hard look at themselves…anyway, enough bitching. The performance is taken straight from the video, from the styling to the choreography. The girls look great, the leopard print and those amaaaaazing pink socks really work for me. Unlike some of their other costumes, it really adds to the performance. The choreography is modified from the PV. Most of the time it’s a good routine, but some of the transitions are a little bit messy when members have to scoot past two others to get to their place. But that’s a minor point.
The only major criticism that I have of the performance is the on-stage attitude of the girls. To me, it still smacks of “cute” rather than “sexy”. Dancing aside, the facial expressions etc just weren’t there. Hopefully it’s something that they’ll grow into. Two-plus years of being trained to act in a certain way can’t be shaken off so easily.
Vocally, it was a good all-round performance. As usual, the only weak point was poor Sohee. I DO believe that she’s working on it and I think her voice has improved. She’s still letting the others down though. Whether we put it down to age or not, she really needs to shape up and keep pace with the rest of the group. As for Yoobin, her reported “vocal chord strain” forced he to mime her rap. And what a disastrous mime it was. With Korean media you can never be sure that somebody really is sick, but I hope she is. I know that sounds horrible, but I’d hate to think that Yoobin wasn’t able to live up to the song in person! Let’s hope that it was a genuine problem and one that she recovers from soon.
Overall, I’d say it was a good first attempt. Sohee and Yoobin can only get better and I’m sure the “sexiness” will come to the group with time….hopefully…
